The Lutwidge Manhunt
The Lutwidge Manhunt is a mini viral marketing campaign allied with the plot of Something in the Sea. Orrin Oscar Lutwidge attempts to reach out to his fellow members of the International Order of the Pawns (IOOP) for aid and protection against his longtime adversary: The Red Pawn. Through his usual methods of trickery and coding, the Pawns must work together to apprehend Lynch and keep the secrets of Rapture safe. ''There's Something in the Sea Mark Meltzer's quest for Rapture had taken him on a long, dangerous road following the crazed riddles of Orrin Lutwidge. In September 1968 Mark discovered that Lutwidge was being held in the secure ward of Tollevue Hospital. Later, in December of that year, Mark was confronted by Jeremiah Lynch (AKA the Red Pawn), who demanded that Mark help him to open Lutwidge's Puzzle Boxes and reveal the (potentially lucrative) secrets of Rapture. This plan failed, but Lynch journeyed to New York City to find Lutwidge and extract the truth of Rapture's whereabouts from him by torture. Though Lynch successfully infiltrated Tollevue, he was unable to capture Lutwidge, who managed to break out of the hospital during the resulting chaos. On January 7, 1969, Benny Stango established a manhunt operation for Lutwidge's immediate capture following the breakout. Framed for the murder of an orderly and a fugitive from the law, Lutwidge reached out to his last remaining bastion of hope: IOOP and the seekers of Rapture. The First Contact (Many Major Cities) Lutwidge went into hiding and began relaying messages to his loyal members of IOOP. His primary goal was to spread word of his troubling predicament far and wide amongst the eager Pawns. First, Lutwidge contacted the Crystal Pawn in Chicago and ordered him to supply other Pawns in his area with a mysterious chess board. At the same time, Lutwidge sent out the pieces of his first coded message to a number of big cities in the United States via Speedy Brothers Delivery service. The message sent to each contact consisted of one pawn chess piece and one piece of paper with coded writing that resembled a list of chess positions. Each piece of paper was labeled with a roman numeral, I - VI, and each pawn was labeled with a chess position and a symbol in Lutwidgian Cypher. After the Pawns had arranged the pieces of the story correctly, they began to work together to decode the messages. Deciphering Lutwidge's story revealed that it was Lynch who killed the orderly, and that the Red Pawn aimed to track Lutwidge down. Lutwidge pleaded for his Pawns to give him protection whenever possible."I.O.O.P. pawn pieces and code" thread on the 2K Forums New York City Lutwidge's next contact was the Green Pawn in New York. The Green Pawn contacted other Pawns in New York with a message in the form of a Rebus puzzle.Rebus puzzle on Wikipedia This message told them to be at the Hellgate Post Office between one and three. When they arrived, each was given the key to a locked mailbox containing a message from Lutwidge. This message in code told pawns to be prepared to stop Lynch at all costs, and to await his next orders."Scavenger Hunt" thread on the 2K Forums Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Crystal Pawn contacted allies in Philadelphia with messages requesting that they meet with the Silver Pawn at the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial.[http://www.networktwentythree.com/news/the-bioshock-plot-thickens/ "The ''BioShock plot thickens…"] blog post at networktwentythree.com When they arrived the Silver Pawn informed them that he had tried to intercept Jeremiah Lynch, but Lynch had seen him and fled, accidentally dropping a dossier as he ran. The Silver Pawn gave the Philadelphia pawns this dossier and requested that they help to decipher its contents."Just missed the Red Pawn…" blog post at networktwentythree.com The dossier contained many newspaper clippings and other documents that had letters cut out of them. Presumably Lynch had been using them to make a message similar to ones he had sent to Mark Meltzer on several occasions. Miami, Florida The Alabaster pawn sent telegrams to Pawns in Miami requesting that they meet at the Red Roof Inn between 2 and 6PM on January 24. He then gave them several puzzles that, when completed, gave the names of several countries and corresponding telephone numbers. These telephone numbers gave recorded messages from Lutwidge instructing the pawns to meet at specific locations in each country on January 30 between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. The first 20 pawns to arrive at each location were promised gifts. International Contacts At each location in Australia, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, pawns received necklaces with strings of white and black beads representing a message in Morse Code. Las Vegas, Nevada Pawns in Nevada received puzzles enclosed with a telegram stating that Lutwidge had returned from his travels abroad and that he thought he had lost Lynch. The telegram instructed his allies to meet the Blue Pawn at a storage facility on East Tropicana Ave. in Las Vegas on January 31. When the contacts arrived they were led to a storage unit sealed with a combination lock which could be unlocked using the sequence of numbers from solving the puzzle. Inside they found an Audio Diary recorded by Lutwidge which instructed them to find him in San Francisco on February 6 at 5:45pm. The Grand Scheme (San Francisco) Pawns arrived at Mary St. in San Francisco between Minna and Natoma on February 6 to find the area blocked off as a crime scene. When they were allowed to approach they saw that a portion of the street had been roped off, and on the ground within it there were two chalk outlines of bodies and what appeared to be a dead body covered by a white sheet lying on the second chalk outline. A large smear of blood spread out from the side of the covered body and several Pawn id cards and business cards for Dr. Jeremiah Lynchman were lying on the ground. The empty chalk outline also had a hat and glasses lying near it. A medical technician proceeded to examine the body under the sheet while a detective went over the scene and a policeman kept watch on the crowd that had gathered around. A reporter questioned the medical technician and was told that the second body had already been photographed and taken away. The detective was suspicious of the crowd that had gathered and was wary of them contaminating the crime scene. He then proceeded to ask the Policeman questions about the crime scene and whether any of the people in the crowd were familiar to him. The policeman replied that he had only seen one body, and that he did not know "any of these funny dressed people. They must be from out of town." The detective became very suspicious when someone in the crowd was seen to be holding an I.O.O.P. badge and threatened to take him in for interrogation. Several reporters circulated through the crowd asking bystanders for information regarding the scene. Afterward 2K Community Manager Elizabeth Tobey came forward and gave Splicer masks to everyone present and invited anyone over 21 to attend a BioShock 2 launch party. The party featured a band playing period music, a slideshow of concept art from the game, and a BioShock themed photo booth. See also *Lutwidge Manhunt Documents References External links *"The Manhunt Overview" thread maintained by Elizabeth Tobey on the 2K Forums Category:Events Category:There's Something in the Sea